Another Cinderella Story AU
by Platinum Daylight
Summary: Touko Yin, despite all odds, is an aspiring dancer. And soon enough, she might just get to be a Pokemon trainer. A chance meeting at the masquerade ball with a celebrated pop star and dancer, Prince N- spins her off on a journey to find out if she truly has what it takes to be a hero.


Touko's body spins at an incredible speed, while her long brown hair twirls all around her body. The way she moves appears to be fast, delicate, and graceful. But the rhythmic movement in her feet would beg to differ— dancing is a rigorous artform. There is nothing delicate about the work put in from behind the scenes in order to move so elegantly.

Blaring across the stage of the Pokemon gym, the song, _Slave To The Rhythm_ begins to reach its bridge. Touko makes a great leap from the tip of her toes, and becomes a whirlwind when she spins in the air again. When she makes a swift landing on her feet, she lets the last chorus play out to catch her breath.

On weekends, when the dance studio was closed and she couldn't use "staying after school" as an excuse to get away from Zinzolin and her adoptive twin sisters, her best friend Bianca would pick her up to go studying. And what "studying" really meant, was Bianca dropping her off at Elesa's gym, so that Touko could get her sessions of solo dance practice in while Bianca was lying to her parents about her whereabouts as well. The gym was also closed on the weekends, but Bianca had a good relationship with Elesa due to working under her for a as a gym guide for her internship—so Elesa was always willing to let Touko borrow it for dance space. Truthfully, Bianca doesn't even know if she wants to pursue being a gym guide as her career. But she would take almost any job just so she could get out of the house.

Were the two absolutely terrible daughters? Debatable. Were they bonafide geniuses? Touko would most definitely like to think so.

The ringing of her Xtransceiver disrupted the flow of the song. There was a heavy feeling of anxiety rising in her chest when she reads Zinzolin's name on the screen. It was like this man had a sensor for when Touko was feeling too much joy, and had to make sure it was ripped from her grasp. And while that thought settles in her mind, she quickly pauses the music with a remote control, and reluctantly drew her thumb over the screen to press the answer button.

"Touko. I need you to come back to the mansion and do the laundry right now." They were simple words, but Zinzolin's voice was cold and laced with a threatening chill on the other side of the line. "The twins have more important things to do, and you've been out with Bianca long enough. Come back here within thirty minutes—and that's a direct order. I'm sure you don't want to know what happens if you don't follow it. Do you understand me?"

Her nails dug roughly into the palm of her hand as she made a fist, shaking her head. She thought about all of the things she wanted to say, the words that were about to come up, but were held back by a single thread of impulse control she had left—and then she thought of the things she _did _say before, and exactly where that got her. It just wasn't worth it right now.

It was time to come down from the clouds and go home.

"Yes, sir. I'll be there." That single statement swooped up all of the other things she wanted so badly to say, and threw it out the window.

The call ended, and Touko shot Bianca a text to take her home ASAP. When she returns to the lockscreen of her Xtransceiver, she winces a little bit at the wallpaper of her mother on there. It hurt, but she never had the heart to change it. Sometimes, it was the only thing that kept her dancing.

She threw her bag filled with textbooks over her shoulders, rushing out of the gym as fast as she could and locked up. Now, Touko was outside, waiting for Bianca to come get her, and she was already calculating the time it would take for her to get home if—

"Oh. My. GOSH. He's going to be coming back to Nimbasa to finish up his senior year here. How cool is THAT?"

"I can't believe we'll get to breathe the same air as him—share the same HALLWAY as him, oh I could faint!"

"Tomorrow feels so far away! Never have I wanted Monday to come by so fast!"

"I just hope to have the chance to get close to him…"

Touko could hear the excited fangirling in earshot. For some reason, it made her all the more impatient and irritated. She wanted to believe that she only felt snappy due to the fact that she had to wait out here. But deep inside, she was mostly bitter that she couldn't be as happy as the girls who were goofing off and talking about boys.

She turned her head to the girls who were talking over near the Ferris Wheel, tuning into their conversation. It was more fangirling about someone, but she didn't catch a name, and it kind of piqued her interest a little bit. Just who was this guy that—

"Yoo-hoo! Touko, get in here! I've got something for you!" A loud, obnoxious horn cuts off her train of thought. Bianca had already pulled up in her broken-down car.

Touko doesn't miss a single beat when she rushes into the front passenger, the car door makes a distinctive _**thud**_ sound when she shuts it.

"Okay, but you've gotta make this quick, Bianca. I've gotta be home in twenty minutes now or else—"

"Touko, I know, Zinzolin and the grunts will make your life a living hell. Don't worry! I don't want that for you, either."

"The grunts" are what Bianca often referred to the twins as. She absolutely refuses to acknowledge them by name—she said that they looked like grunts from those corrupted teams that steal Pokemon because of how they styled their red hair identically to each other, and that they had unremarkable faces. And she was not wrong about that.

"I had Professor Juniper meet up with me here today, and guess what I scored us—" Bianca pulled out a capsule with something that looked like a button in the middle of it. "Open it."

Touko pressed the button, and the capsule slowly opened—revealing three Pokeballs sitting on velvet cushions inside the case.

"Bianca, you didn't…"

"Come on! We're supposed to be starting our journeys this year, we _all _promised each other that!"

"And that was before what happened with my mom." Touko's voice had some edge, and it almost hurt to speak.

What Bianca was referring to, was a pact they made when they were six years old. Bianca, Cheren and Touko all promised each other that they'd be best friends forever, and that ten years later, they would begin their Pokemon journey together. But four years after that promise, Touko's mother fell into a coma, and social services assigned Zinzolin to be her adoptive father. Zinzolin said he'd treat her like one of his own daughters, but when he took her home, he immediately made her the house maid that they never had to pay. But that wasn't the worst of it. She wasn't allowed to have a life outside of school—he's even said that her going to school w_as _a privilege, because if it weren't required by law, he'd absolutely forbid it. Dancing was the only thing Touko had that saved her from this world, and if he found out about it, he'd make sure she could never do it again. So, a Pokemon journey was definitely out of the question.

"And besides…" She took a deep breath to calm herself down, "Cheren isn't here anymore either. They're never going to let him out of his contract with Plasma Records."

Last year, at the end of their first semester of high school, Cheren's parents shipped him off to work under a music label. It was to manage one of the artists there. Apparently, Plasma Records had this singer that needed a manager, someone around Cheren's age, and they paid his parents a lot of money in to pull him out of school to work in the music industry. The three have only had minimal contact with him ever since then—sometimes they only heard from him once a month. Which was a lot harder on Bianca than it was for Touko, considering that Bianca and Cheren were dating.

"There's just too many things wrong with this picture, Bianca…" Touko's voice was on the brink of croaking. "Cheren was supposed to be with us when we got our Pokemon, but he can't go on a journey even if he wanted to because his parents SOLD HIM. Your dad doesn't even know you've been sneaking behind his back, talking to Juniper about Pokemon, and we both know he barely lets you out of the house to go to school in Nimbasa for your internship with Elesa, so how on earth are you gonna pull of a journey—and do you honestly think me having a Pokemon would fly around Zinzolin right now?! Say we do go through with this… how do we even make it work?"

She asks, because deep down, she wants this more than anything. The gears in the back of Touko's mind were spinning with only a small amount of hope, but endless possibilities of what could come out of this. No matter how pointless is was to even entertain the thought, Touko was still a dreamer at the end of the day. And all she needed, was an almost convincing explanation from Bianca that could make this dream happen.

Bianca closed the capsule, and took Touko's hands into hers, holding them gently.

"I'll admit, this situation isn't ideal, but there are three Pokemon in here, that means there's one for each of us—and with them by our side, there is nothing we can't get out of! There's a reason why Pokemon are so essential to our world. They're like magic… more powerful than any lame adults' authority. Come on, you of all people should know this!"

She was always the most hopeful and energetic out of the three. Though she didn't really have a strong direction in life, Touko put her trust in her. They were best friends, and Bianca would never intentionally put her in harm's way.

"I guess, I was just scared. My mom was supposed to be the one to see me off when I went on my journey, and now I don't know if she'll ever wake up, and somewhere along the way I began to think… what if I couldn't start my journey without her?" Touko looked to Bianca, who gave her hands a squeeze.

"Touko, you've found a way to still keep dancing, even under your circumstances, and you've become so talented it at, all by yourself. You've made it this far, despite everything that's happened. All you can really do now, is keep pushing harder and live the most of your life you can for her—but most importantly, for yourself. That's how you find your truth."

Dancing was the only real thing that reassured Touko her mother was still with her. In fact, she's the reason why Touko got into dance in the first place. When all hope of a being able to go on a Pokemon journey was lost because of Zinzolin, Touko clung onto dancing for dear life.

"I'm not saying no." Touko said, but the tone of her voice suggested that she was going to elaborate, so Bianca can't get too excited just yet, "But our deal was, is that all three of us get our starters together. I don't want to start without Cheren."

She didn't know how they would pull this off, but once they got their starters, they would figure out the rest of it together.

"Deal." Bianca agreed, still smiling over excitedly, "No picking until we all get together."

"Knowing Cheren's work schedule, that could take months. You know that, right?" Touko was serious, though couldn't help but to smile faintly. Bianca's optimism was contagious.

"I'm taking you home now." Bianca changed gears and drove off, still looking giddy.

Touko didn't even bother to retaliate. She didn't blame her. The circumstances weren't ideal, but they were finally going to make good on that promise, and for the first time in years—Touko had hope.

* * *

"There's laundry to do!" Grunt 1, otherwise known as Britney, hollered obnoxiously as soon as Touko stepped foot passed the threshold.

"God, how am I supposed to look good for him if Touko can't even get to our clothes fast enough for tomorrow? Being me is so hard…" That was Grunt 2, Whitney.

"I already got the memo from Zinzolin!" Touko rolled her eyes. They weren't busy at all. But that wasn't a surprise, Zinzolin never allowed them to do their own chores.

She ran up to her room, feeling thankful that rich people thought any room that wasn't ridiculously spacious, was small. Her room was relatively a modest size, with a decent bed to sleep on, and had a small, flat screen TV from across where she slept. While Zinzolin treated her horribly, he's never lived a humble life before, so to him—he honestly thought he was sending her to a dungeon when he assigned this room to her. Rich producers in the music industry were incredibly stupid.

Touko turned on the TV as she did the Grunt's laundry. There was a lot of celebrity news being covered tonight, which she didn't really care about, but it was good background noise. However, there was a particular face that popped up on the screen, who caught her attention.

"I'm here with the sophisticated, and mysterious seventeen-year-old teen pop sensation Prince N reporting from the Nimbasa Musical! N, from what I'm hearing, the show you put on tonight is your last one, is that true?"

The camera zoomed in on N's face. And thank god, because the reporter was super annoying and an obvious social climber.

"It's my last one, _for now_." N confirmed, shyly scratching through his long green hair, "I'm taking a break from music, so that I can focus on myself for a little while"

She smiled at the TV. She thought it was good for him that he was prioritizing his own well-being. Prince N was one of her favorite dancers, and his songs weren't bad either. And on top of that, he seemed like a really kind and humble guy.

"But, I don't wanna stay too far away from music, so I'm hosting a dance competition with Plasma Records. Winner gets to be in the music video for my next single!" N looks directly to the camera, flashing a soft smile.

But, of course, he was still a star. His modesty only added to his charisma. And no matter how much Touko loved dancing, she never dared to dream of a day where she could even get _next _to Prince N. Zinzolin would put a stop to that before it could even be thought of—he'd never let her progress past being a maid. Her and Bianca were barely working on going on a Pokemon journey without either Zinzolin or her own father noticing, and Touko didn't even know how _that _was going to go yet.

After her chores were done for the night, Touko went to bed with anticipation of the next time she'll get to dance again.

* * *

Bianca picked her up again the next morning. She was pretty much Touko's ride for most things, considering that at least her dad allowed her to have a car to drive around in Nimbasa, if she wasn't using Juniper's Unfezant to get here from Nuvema Town. And the Grunts made it very clear that they weren't ever going to take her to school.

"Hey-hey, Touko!" Bianca was beaming, even a little more than she was yesterday.

"What's got _you_ so chipper today?" Touko raised her eyebrow at her strangely, giving her a funny smile.

"What? I can't be excited to go to school with my best friend?" Bianca changed gears, pulling the car out from the side of the mansion, "I mean, I might as well cherish all of the moments we have left together this semester."

"As sweet as it is of you to say that, I'd rather wait until I get the audition results of round one first before we talk about how this might be our last semester together." Touko slumped into her seat, letting out a loud sigh. The Castelia Performing Arts Conservatory was her dream dance school: full of talented dancers, had a beautiful campus, there were upbeat performers everywhere in the city! But most importantly—it was a ridiculously far drive from Nimbasa. Far away from Zinzolin and the grunts.

After a couple minutes of back and forth banter about their future, they arrived at school.

"You've GOTTA be more confidant in yourself, Touko." Bianca parked the car, and grabbed her heavy green bag from the back.

"Trust me, Bianca, I really want to be. But it would be a lot easier to feel confidant if I knew I could get past the first round. It would seriously boost my moral." Touko sighed again, and closed the door shut as she got out of the car.

"Speaking things into the universe boosts your moral as well, so if I say out loud that TOUKO YIN IS GOING TO GET INTO DANCE SCHOOL—you're going to get into dance school!" Bianca felt no embarrassment saying so out loud, even when everyone was giving her weird looks.

As Bianca and Touko made their way across the parking lot, there was a dreadful presence walking alongside them. Touko turned, feeling irritated already. Of course, the Grunts.

"Oh, look, Whitney, I was JUST looking for the trash can." Britney smirked at them, throwing a cup full of soda their way.

Touko slapped the cup, hard, causing it to splash both Britney and Whitney. The top from the cup popped off, and was now rolling on the ground with the straw, and the Grunts clothes were drenched with soda. Touko was glaring at the two, as if her eyes were saying "test me one more time"

"You stupid maid! That's just more laundry you're going to have to do tonight!" Whitney whined, trying to shake her hands of the drink.

"Tell your dad I said hi!" Bianca pulled Touko by her arm, quickly making a run for the school theater.

* * *

"Bianca, what are we doing here? We don't have theater this period, and our teacher has off first class." Touko slowed down as they made it to the stage, pulling away from Bianca's grip.

"We're here to pick out our starter Pokemon!" Bianca ran to the center of the stage and took out the capsule from her bag, pressing the button on the center to unlock it, revealing them once again.

"Dude, I really, _**really **_want to, but there's kind of something missing from this equation." Touko pointed her finger at Bianca, and then herself.

"Oh, right! I almost forgot." Realization set in Bianca's face as she scooped up the three pokeballs in her arms and stood back up, "You can come out now!"

Emerging from the velvet curtains—was Cheren, in a flesh. His black hair was a little longer, and he wasn't wearing his glasses anymore. Though, the button-down shirts were still his thing—and it was good to know that the music industry hadn't changed him completely.

"No way!" Touko ran towards Cheren and gave him the tightest hug that she could, "Oh my god, you're actually back—how?!" she pushed him away quickly, and pulled him over to the center of the stage.

Cheren threw his arm around Touko, pulling her in for a side hug and gave her shoulders a squeeze before going over to Bianca's side. She was gushing when he gave her a kiss on the cheek,

"I'm going to school here for the rest of sophomore year." Cheren proceeds to explain, "Which is a miracle, but the guy that I manage? _**Total**_ sheltered popstar. He's supposed to be graduating soon, and wanted to know what it's like to go to public school, so…"

"That's no way to talk about him!" Bianca hit him on the arm.

"If you had to work with him, you'd know what I mean. He's been famous his whole life, so he's never had to deal with someone treating him life a regular person until I became his manager. But at least you guys will finally know who I work now." Exhaustion was evident in Cheren's voice. He was just relieved that who he managed didn't have to be a secret anymore.

"Seriously? That's gonna be SO funny to see—wait, aren't you supposed to be with him right now?" Touko asked.

"I'm supposed to show up with him next class period. I told him I'd be back to get him later… there's something much more important right now." Cheren's eyes averted to Bianca's arms.

Bianca tossed all three of the pokeballs into the air, and one by one, each Pokemon appeared from a bright white light. Her pokedex identified the three as Snivy, Oshawatt, and Tepig.

"Go ahead, Touko." Cheren said, "The promise was your idea, you should get to pick first."

"You just want to pick the type advantage against mine." Touko smiled, playfully shaking her head.

"Either way, I'm not losing to you." He smiled back, refusing to confirm.

"Glad to see the dynamic here hasn't changed one bit." Bianca giggled, laying her head on Cheren's shoulder.

Touko bent down, looking at all of the Pokemon. She could picture herself with any of these three… but, only one of them radiated the fighting spirit she was looking for. Her eyes immediately locked with Tepig's.

"You look like a fighter." She said to Tepig, "I choose you."

Tepig jumped into Touko's arms, his eyes were sparkling with joy.

"Thank God." Cheren stepped forward, looking down at Oshawatt, "I really wanted this one." Oshawatt snuggled up against his legs, smiling.

"Well, would you look at that! Snivy's definitely more my style!" Bianca petted Snivy, who closed her eyes, feeling comfortable with her touch.

"This is actually the best day of my life, we're actually all here together, and we got to pick our Pokemon!" Touko hugged Tepig, petting his skin, "I haven't felt this happy ever since…"

She trailed off, stopping herself, embracing Tepig even tighter. No, not today. This little guy can't see her cry already.

"…I know." Cheren nodded, "Nothing has been the same for any of us since that day, but I think things are finally falling into place."

"He's right, you know!" Bianca lifted up Snivy into her arms, "I told you we could make this work!"

"You sure did." Touko chuckled softly, "Looks like speaking things into the universe does work!"

"So, if I say that I'm going to become Unova's Champion—" Cheren interjected in a playful tone.

"Absolutely not!" Touko scoffs, then turns to Bianca, "How do I get the universe to void that?

"How about a battle?" Bianca suggested, "I'm serious, we could all go at it with each other to see where we stand as trainers! However the battle ends—that's the universe's message to us!"

"I don't quite get your logic, but I'm not against getting stronger." Oshawatt stood firmly in front of Cheren.

"This is well worth skipping class for—Tepig, let's put on a show!" Tepig jumped in the air as he was released from Touko's arms.

"Just remember guys, whatever happens—all of us can benefit from winning _**and **_losing! So, no hard feelings, alright?" Snivy slowly opened her eyes, and moved forward from Bianca's side.

"Oh, I'm very capable of separating my feelings as a friend and as a trainer." Cheren shot Touko a small smirk.

"If _**I**_ don't beat your ass when I battle you, then I hope your girlfriend does!" Touko barked back.

In the end, all three of them had one win and one loss against each other. Touko was pretty humble about her victory against Bianca, because they had a super engrossing battle. The same could also be said for Cheren when Touko lost to him—it was a close one. And Bianca wasn't the best battler, but she had a lot of fun, especially when she beat Cheren.

Cheren's Xtransceiver went off loudly. He sighed, and grumbled a little bit. It was the alarm, notifying him that he had to go.

"And that's my cue. I'm sorry. I have to go get him." Cheren returned Oshawatt in his pokeball. He shared a light side hug with Touko, and gave Bianca a reluctant look. He really didn't want to go— "But we'll be seeing a lot more of each other soon. So, be patient."

Cheren gave Bianca a quick, but tender kiss, and hopped off the stage.

"I can't complain." Bianca smiles faintly, "This is a step up from where we were at before."

"It's like you said," Touko smiled back at her, "We've got Pokémon now. There's nothing we can't get out of."

* * *

The bell rings for second period, but while Touko and Bianca were going about their lives like normal, Cheren was stuck in the back of a limo with his least favorite person on earth.

"The stop we're making is at Nimbasa High right, Prince N?"

The driver asked to confirm.

"Yes." N nodded, and turned to the window, losing himself in the view of the passing clouds in the sky.

"Don't forget about the dance class you have to teach after school today." Cheren reminded him, dreadfully looking at the schedule for today on his Xtransceiver. "I tried to downsize your schedule as much as I could, but Ghetsis insisted on this, along with the meeting with that producer, Zinzolin. But after that, you should have time for yourself until your dance competition."

Ghetsis was the President of Plasma Records, but since he doubled as N's father as well, all matters regarding his career were final. Cheren didn't exactly enjoy managing N, he thought of him to be sheltered and difficult to understand. But that didn't mean he'd hand over his position to Ghetsis full time if they gave him the opportunity. Cheren didn't trust him.

"I know." N acknowledged calmly, "I appreciate all the work that you've done to make my life easier."

Earlier this year, N confided to Cheren about wanting to live a more authentic life. All of his life, N's never felt human—and that's because Ghetsis created him to be a star, robbing him of a normal life. He was loved by his fans, but it was artificial—they had no idea who he really was. And he was shunned over at Plasma Records because of his ability to speak to Pokemon. All N wanted, was to feel like he belonged somewhere for once.

Since then, Cheren has gone out of his way to make sure N could take the break from music that he wanted and finish getting his credentials at a real school… just like a normal human would.

"It's what I'm here for." Cheren averted his eyes to the window on his side of the limo, and sighed quietly.

Soon, they arrived at Nimbasa High School. The entrance was swarming with screaming fans, this was the part of the job that Cheren hated the most. Cheren was the first to leave the limo, forcefully pushing through the crowd of crazed Prince N fans.

"Out of the way!" Cheren shoved through the mass of people, "N's claustrophobic, so if he DIES from a panic attack because you guys weren't considerate of his space, all of you—his fans, will be responsible for it."

"Can you even die from a panic attack—?" N asked in a low voice, amused at Cheren's drastic wording. He wasn't claustrophobic, but it's not like he wanted to correct it.

"Why don't we find out?" Cheren shot a threatening glare at the crowd.

Immediately, all of the students took a huge step back.

"You're welcome." Cheren murmured to N as they made their way to enter the school.

Meanwhile, Bianca and Touko were walking in the hallway with their arms linked with each other's. The two of them were holding pokeballs, Bianca held Snivy's close to her heart. While Touko looked at Tepig's longingly.

"We should probably put these away… if Zinzolin and your dad found out we had Pokemon, we'd never see them again." It really hurt Touko to have to say it, because she hated the thought of having to put Tepig away... but she had to keep him safe. And, she'd see Tepig again soon.

"You're right, Touko." Bianca placed Snivy's pokeball in her bag, and stuck her head through the opened zipper, "I'll miss you Snivy!"

Bianca was dramatic, but Touko didn't blame her.

"I love you." Touko said to Tepig, and unzipped her bag…

"Oh, shit—that's Prince N!"

The floors of the hallway shook. Touko and Bianca could feel the stampede of incoming fans rushing forward. It was only a group of girls, but they were loud… and fast.

One of them gave Touko a hard push as they passed by, causing Tepig's pokeball to fly right out of her hand… and into the air.

"Oh my god, no." Touko's mouth gaped open.

She was automatically sprinting after Tepig. If that pokeball lands on the ground, and Tepig comes out, she was going to be in trouble with the school _and _with Zinzolin. And it was too soon for them to have any slip ups now!

In the middle of the hallway, Cheren and Prince N were on their way to class. As Cheren was about to stand in front of N to ward off the crowd, he noticed a pokeball flying towards them, curious as to which trainer it came from. And the only ones he knew that had Pokemon at this school were him, Bianca and _Touko—_who was running right towards them, chasing after the pokeball.

N noticed it too, and felt a strong pull from the pokeball. He could hear its voice… there was a Pokemon in there. It had to be. He could feel the Pokemon calling out for help.

"Wait, I've got it!" N hollered as he ran backwards, and jumped into the air.

"No, I've got it—!"

Touko jumped forward as well, not leaving Tepig's pokeball out of her sight. It was just a little bit out of her reach—and then another hand had caught it! Without thinking, she grabbed his wrist, and took a look at whoever caught her pokeball…

"Prince N?!"

She tumbled on top of him as they crashed onto the ground. Touko quickly pushes her hand against the floor to raise herself up. When she notices that he hasn't loosened his grip on the pokeball, she sighs with relief and looks into his eyes, smiling when she doesn't find a hint of anger in them.

N smiled right back at her, feeling relieved as well. He was just happy that he could hear how safe the Pokemon felt. But more so, that the Pokemon could sense when its trainer was near… and that it had wonderful things to say about her.

"This is your Pokemon... right?"


End file.
